


In Which Zane Is Probably Touch-Starved But The Ninja Have His Back

by roseverdict



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Alternate Title: Operation: Hug The Nindroid, Fluff without Plot, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, SO SAYETH THE ROSIE, So Anyway Guess Who Can't Stop, THIS NINDROID HAS GUILT AND HE SHALL BE HUGGED, crossposted from tumblr, don't think i didn't catch zane's reluctance to hug wu back even tho he was definitely in need of it, let's fix that, my tags got all shuffled around and im too tired to fix em, that's literally it - Freeform, the plot is just Hug Zane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:54:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22313626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseverdict/pseuds/roseverdict
Summary: Zane's primary function is to protect those who cannot protect themselves.How is he to cope with the knowledge that, for all those years lost in the Never-Realm,he'sthe one they'd needed protection from?(or, the one where the ramifications of zane's decades-long exile are explored a little more, and then he gets hugs and cake.)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 149





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so anyway guess who couldn’t keep herself from writing over 2.5k words of ninjago without any plans or plot other than “hug the nindroid”
> 
> *banging pots and pans* MORE TRAUMA! MORE HUGS! MORE TRAUMA! MORE HUGS!
> 
> Content warnings: None :D

The green-clad rebel strained against his icy prison, eyes wide. “Zane…please…”

Deluded to the very end.

“I told you, _there is no Zane!_ ” The Ice Emperor roared, approaching his captive with a swipe of his scepter.

_yes there IS, come ON, snap OUT OF IT!_

“Do it, master.” His loyal advisor approached from behind. “ _Finish it!_ ”

Gladly.

_no!_

“Zane…” The green stranger begged.

**S__T_M ID: Z_NE**

The **1ce 3mper0r** shook his head, confusion bubbling up for the first time in quite a while.

“ _I’ll_ do it.” His (dis)loyal advisor decided, strolling back to his army and taking a spear from one of the foot soldiers. He chuckled and leveled the sharp end of his weapon at the green **n1nj4**. “Some savior _you_ turned out to be. You couldn’t defeat the Emperor, you couldn’t **pr0tect** your friends, you couldn’t even **pr0t3ct y0ur53lf.** ”

_Protect._

**_Protect those who cannot protect themselves…_ **

Visions of a world beyond his wildest dreams overwhelmed his sight, visions of the orphan who was called “student” by an ancient master of martial arts, of the robot who was called “brother” by ninja, of the nindroid who fought time and time again to save the world he called “home” and the people he called “family.”

Visions of the prank war and the pink gi, of the devourer of the world, of the kid-ening and the megaweapon, of the dark lord who became a good friend before being resurrected as a hollow shell, of the tournament and the cursed realm, of the day of the departed and the temporal twins, of the rebirth of the teacher and the return of the ninja from a far-off place, of the oni attack and the forbidden scroll, of the ghost ninja and the ninja siblings and the inventor ninja _so much like his own creator_ and-

-the Green Ninja, prophesied vanquisher of the Overlord, son of Garmadon, successor to Wu, brother to Kai and Jay and Nya and Cole and Pixal and-

**SYSTEM ID: ZANE**

**MEMORY CACHE RESTORED**

The Titanium Ninja gasped, his systems ( _his systems!_ ) informing him that less than a second had passed since his vision went offline.

A new understanding nearly crashed him then and there, but there wasn’t time for that.

Lloyd (the Green Ninja, the one he’d sworn to protect all those decades ago) was in danger.

“Vex!” He cried, knocking the deceiver’s weapon aside with his own and tearing the mask from his face.

“ _Don’t!_ ”

With that, he swatted Vex aside with ease-

-and wasn’t that strange? He’d clutched the scepter like a lifeline for decades, but it had never been meant to be a scepter in the first place, nor had it been his.

He wanted nothing to do with the cursed _thing._ Not after all he’d done under its sway and Vex’s manipulation.

With a mighty shout, Zane leapt into the air, _lifted the frozen scroll-on-a-stick high-_

-and he slammed it against the floor, shattering it and scattering its shards in one fateful blow.

Snow whirled out from the broken staff, undoing the years upon years of unnatural winter in an instant, and hopefully unfreezing all those who had gotten in his way over the course of his corrupt rule.

(Zane filed those thoughts with the crashing realization; somewhere he could keep them until he could afford to shut down.)

The weight of the helmet (not his, _not_ his) was unbearable.

Zane threw the helmet aside, rushing to his brother’s side. “LLOYD-!”

Lloyd beamed. “I knew you’d remember! I _knew_ it!”

Zane just pulled him to his feet and looked at him for a moment.

(His optical sensors were growing staticky, feeling as though they were overheating without sending any error signals to his main processor.)

He took a shuddering breath he didn’t need and hugged Lloyd tight, not daring to look at anything else. “Th-thank you, Lloyd. Are…are the others-?”

“Everyone’s alright, Zane.” Lloyd returned the hug, keeping his voice steady when he _had_ to be hurting for Zane. “Everyone’s alright.”

(Did he even deserve such good friends anymore?)

“That is…that is good.” Zane nodded into Lloyd’s shoulder, but didn’t move aside from that.

The Formling (Akita, Lloyd had called her) got to her feet. “So _this_ is the true face of the Ice Emperor…”

Zane cringed, but turned to face her. (She deserved _that_ much, at least.) “Please…I am only Zane. I am…I am deeply sorry for my actions under the name by which you know me.”

Akita’s face may have softened, but Zane would never know for sure, because the doors chose that moment to burst open.

“LLOYD!”

“AKITA!”

“ _ZANE!_ ”

Zane jolted, staring at the oncoming ninja (and another Formling?) in shock. “Wh- _guys!_ ”

Akita seemed just as dumbfounded, but she recovered faster, running to the other Formling. “ _KATARU!_ ”

Zane soon found his friends on all sides, each one grabbing him for a hug of their own before passing him down the line.

Like this, he could almost pretend all was right again.

Almost.

〜〜〜〜〜〜

“C'mon, Akita, please?”

Zane shrank back behind Lloyd, shame-filled eyes the only things still visible.

Lloyd continued on. “The only ones who were in the throne room and still remember clearly were us and Vex, and Vex is… _Vex._ If anyone else from this realm knew who the Ice Emperor was, would they just let him leave?”

“…no. No, they would not.” Akita eventually admitted. “But why should I be any different? Why shouldn’t I tell them all?”

“Because, while I _did_ overshare… _a lot_ …you were able to learn about who Zane really is.” Lloyd explained. “You know about the Pink Ninja, you know about the times we’ve saved each other, and you know about Zane’s prime directive. A prime directive that he’s already tearing himself apart over breaking.”

Zane jumped, turning his gaze to Lloyd. “You-?”

“You’re still a terrible liar, Zane.” Lloyd managed a small grin and lightly elbowed him in the side. “When we get home, you’re getting some sleep and some therapy. Doctor’s orders.”

Zane snorted and crossed his arms, glancing away. “Nindroids do not need sleep.”

“To function? No. But to _live?_ ” Lloyd countered. “Face it, Zane, a bit of R-n-R’ll do us _all_ some good.”

“…ugh, alright, fine.” Akita grumbled. A cunning smirk grew on her face. “But only because the thought of the Ice Emperor in a pink gi is a hilarious one.”

Zane groaned, though with a touch of light-heartedness at Akita’s agreement. “Will I _never_ live down my pink reputation?”

“Nope!” Lloyd chirped, patting him on the shoulder and turning to rejoin the rest of the ninja in the town square. “Not as long as I’m around!”

“Funny…weren’t _you_ the one to mix our laundry in the first place?” Zane shot a snarky grin over his shoulder at Lloyd, the better to avoid looking directly at Akita.

“I reserve the right to remain silent!” Lloyd laughed, slipping out of the shaded space between buildings.

Zane watched as Akita followed Lloyd out into the open, leaving him alone for a moment.

Alone…with his thoughts.

His friends still considered him one of their own, but after everything…

…it almost felt like when he first discovered he wasn’t human. The other ninja insisted he was still their brother and friend, but he couldn’t feel right until he made peace with who and what he was.

Much like now.

Except this time, it wasn’t something as clear-cut as his origins. It wasn’t a focal point of his identity and a factor beyond his control.

It was decades of actions, of deeds _he’d_ done.

(A quiet voice in his head protested that _it was the influence of Vex and the Scroll, not Zane himself,_ but it was drowned out by the rest of his thoughts.)

Something bumped into the back of his leg, snapping him back to awareness.

Zane glanced down at the child, eyes wide. “Are you alright?”

The child rubbed her head, then looked up at him. “Yeah. Sorry, Mister Ninja, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“Don’t be.” Zane shook his head, offering his hand to her. “I should not have been standing in the way.”

The girl beamed and took his hand, hopping to her feet. “You’re Mister Zane, right? The one the other ninja were searching for?”

“…that’s me.” Zane nodded slowly, staring off into the distance without realizing it at first.

“Is it true what they say? Is the Ice Emperor’s reign really over?” The girl asked, drawing him back to the present.

Well, he could at least assuage her fears.

He chuckled, hefting her to his hip and beeping her nose. “The Ice Emperor will _not_ hurt anyone _ever_ again. This, I _swear._ ”

The girl giggled, and Zane felt some of the weight on his shoulders lift.

(Unbeknownst to either of them, Akita watched with a wary eye, though her expression softened to a small smile before she looked away.)

〜〜〜〜〜〜

_He was cold._

_Rather than cause him harm, however, the cold gave him strength._

_His advisor spoke of reclaiming his throne, of taking what rightfully belonged to him…_

_…and of showing no mercy to those who stood in his way._

_A flash of Green blocked his path, and his body moved without his command, striking down the Green in a blink._

_The world around him was cold._

〜〜〜

Zane shot awake with a gasp, sitting bolt upright in bed as he ran a diagnostic program from sheer force of habit.

The time was 03:27:39. He’d been asleep for 5 hours, 42 minutes, and 54 seconds. It had been 2 days, 13 hours, 20 minutes, and 17 seconds since his return to Ninjago. His systems were all functioning properly. His friends were all alive. He was in his bed at the monastery, not the throne in the Never-Realm. Everything…was… _fine._

So why couldn’t he get his heart to stop racing?

The sound of a yawn broke through the tension, his hyperactive sensors identifying it as Cole’s before he could even think about wondering whose it was.

Well, maybe Cole would be willing to talk with him a bit, help him get his head back on straight.

Zane slid out of bed and poked his head into the kitchen. “Cole?”

“Wh-? Oh, hey, Zane.” Cole said. At least, Zane assumed that was what he’d said. There was too much cake in his mouth to know for certain. “Nightmare?”

“You could say that.” Zane admitted, properly entering the kitchen and silently closing the door behind him.

Cole swallowed, and before shoveling another expertly-balanced forkful into his mouth, he asked, “Memories?”

“…sort of.” Zane pulled up a seat beside Cole, studying the table as if it were the most interesting surface in any world. “It was a memory, but…twisted into something worse, something false and yet…”

“Hey, man, I get it.” Cole mumbled around his cake, gulping it down before going on. “I mean, probably not the specifics, but, y'know.”

Zane didn’t reply right away.

The quiet scraping of a plate along the countertop caught his attention, and Zane blinked as a sizable slice of cake slid in front of him. “Wh-Cole, I cannot just-”

“Ohhh, _yes_ you can.” Cole cut him off with a smirk, already serving himself another slice. “Go nuts, buddy. Why do you think _I’m_ up? Cake calms the nerves and sends your taste buds to heaven, _especially_ after a bad dream!”

“I do not know if that is _completely_ accurate…” Zane snorted, admitting defeat and grabbing a fork.

“Well, it works for me! Case in point:” Cole stuck a forkful of cake in his mouth with a wordless laugh, rather than forming the rest of the sentence. He swallowed it down and grinned. “Now just give in to the sweet, sugary goodness, Zane!”

Zane chuckled and took a bite, though he couldn’t bring himself to enjoy it as much as he felt he should.

“That doesn’t look much like letting the spongy slice of heaven wash over you.” Cole commented, setting his fork down and propping his head up on his hands. “You wanna talk about it?”

“I…” Zane stared at the cake in front of him and slid it a little bit away. “I was there for _decades,_ Cole. Using my elemental powers to…to…”

Cole thought for a moment, then pushed the cake back in front of Zane. “And what did it take to make you do that? I know for a _fact_ it wasn’t because you would’ve wanted to.”

Zane frowned, not answering.

“I’ll tell you what it took.” Cole leaned over and wrapped his arm around Zane’s shoulder. “It took a combination of amnesia caused by Vex, being manipulated by Vex, and the Scroll of Forbidden Spinjitsu. Y'know, the scroll that corrupts _anybody_ who holds it?”

“But I still should have _known!_ ” Zane protested. “I should not have just let the thing that drives me become…become _nothing!_ ”

“I dunno, Zane. From what Lloyd’s told us about the throne room throw-down, it didn’t sound like ‘nothing’ to me.” Cole leaned forward, trying to get Zane to look at him.

Zane just glanced to the other side. “I just…I hurt so many people, Cole. People I was supposed to protect. That does not just go away because I got my memories back.”

“The dark ice did.” Cole pointed out. “You remembered who you are, and what were the first things you did?”

“I…I stopped Vex from harming Lloyd?” Zane asked, unconsciously reaching for his fork again. “And…and then I destroyed the Scroll?”

“Bingo!” Cole grinned. “The instant you got your memories back, you took what you had around you and _you protected everyone from Vex._ You didn’t hesitate, you weren’t 'addicted to power’ or whatever, and you didn’t have any conflicting thoughts about it.”

“I…”

“Look, dude, if you and the guys get to tell me that the whole 'Day of the Departed’ incident wasn’t my fault, and that Yang used me to fulfill his own purposes, then _me_ and the guys get to tell _you_ that the whole 'Never-Realm’ thing isn’t _your_ fault.” Cole sat upright, sticking his fork into his cake before gesturing with it. “Vex was a slimeball who just wanted power, and he didn’t care who he hurt to get it. And Zane?”

Zane looked up from his plate and met Cole’s steady gaze.

“He hurt _you,_ too.”

Zane swallowed, though he hadn’t yet taken another bite of cake, and he hugged Cole.

“Okay, we’re doing hugs now.” Cole wheezed, setting his fork down and pulling Zane closer. “Glad you’re feeling better, buddy.”

“Thank you, Cole.” Zane smiled. “When did you get so wise?”

“Pffft, me? Wise?” Cole snorted. “Nah, man, I’ve just accepted my fate as The Dad Friend. Somewhere between teaching little Lloyd, raising little Wu, and telling Jay and Krag to quit arguing over video games, I just stopped fighting it.”

Zane just laughed, turning down his volume to keep from waking anyone else up.

“Speaking of video games, you wanna try and beat my high score on Lava Zombies?” Cole asked, sneaking a bite of cake over Zane’s shoulder. “I betcha can’t!”

Zane pulled away with a mock-offended gasp. “I will have you know I was reigning Lava Zombies champion for weeks! _Weeks!_ ”

“'Was.’ Not 'is.’” Cole smirked.

“Oh, you are _on!_ ” Zane declared, shoveling his cake into his mouth, dropping the plate and fork in with the dirty dishes, and bolting for the video game room.

“Wh- _hey,_ no fair!” Cole protested, scrambling to keep up. “No nindroid super-speed at four in the morning!”

One of the bedroom doors slid open, and Kai stuck his head out with a groan. “Howsabout 'no sugar-high ninja running around at four in the morning’? GO TO BED.”

Zane just beamed, a cheeky grin on his face. “You’ll have to catch us, first!”


	2. In Which Zane Still Can't Sleep But Neither Can Wu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zane wakes up from another nightmare and has some tea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHO’S BACK BABEYS
> 
> I MADE MYSELF CRY WRITING THIS SO NOW IM INFLICTING IT ON ALL OF YOU
> 
> **_Ｙ Ｅ Ｅ Ｔ_ **
> 
> Content Warnings: None :D

_The advisor brought news of a clan of monsters. Beasts lived in the mountains, threatening his men and all others who dared approach._

_He described them to his liege, hairy and brutish and not at all redeemable. He told his liege that the beasts would mount an attack on his icy fortress, and while they would be no match for his superior power, it would make things simpler to just wipe them out at the source._

_And this would keep his soldiers from having to deal with a surprise attack?_

_This would keep them safe?_

_His advisor assured him it would._

_He gave the order._

〜〜〜

Zane jolted when the chicken jumped onto his chest, disrupting his sleep cycle before he had to watch the outcome of the order.

He smiled sadly and gingerly stroked the chicken’s feathers. “Thank you, my terrifying friend.”

The chicken just squawked at him and burrowed into his blanket, seemingly without a care in the world.

Zane’s smile faded. “I thought you slept in Master Wu’s room.”

The chicken gave no response, but the noises of movement elsewhere in the monastery was explanation enough. It seemed Wu was awake as well.

…at 01:17:46.

What was he doing up?

Zane carefully maneuvered out from under the chicken, earning a glare, but no electrical retaliation, thank the First. He crept from his room and along the halls, following the sounds of clinking tableware and running water.

That was certainly something Wu would do.

Before he even got outside, Wu spoke. “Care to join me, Zane?”

Zane gaped, but obediently walked to Wu’s side and sat on the edge of the monastery’s wood flooring. “How did you-?”

“You’ve been restless since your return.” Wu explained, pouring a cup of tea and handing it to Zane. “The others have, as well, but not nearly as much as you.”

Fragrant minty steam wafted up from Zane’s cup and curled around his face. “…I suppose I _have_ been a bit…out of sorts.”

“It’s more than that, Zane.” Wu sighed, every bit the old man who had seen ages pass by in a blink, yet still the young soul desperate to find a way to bring light to the world so often clouded in shadow. “Whenever you think no one’s looking, your face falls and your shoulders sag, as if you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

Zane didn’t give Wu a proper response, only lifting his cup to his lips.

The tea was warm, warmer than any of the other ninja (the _human_ ninja) would drink, save perhaps Kai. The true temperature found itself at odds with the chilly flavor of the tea itself, two warring sensations rushing down his throat as he swallowed.

Not the way he usually liked his tea, but tonight proved an exception to the rule.

“How did you know this would help?” Zane asked, lifting his cup and swirling the tea around for a moment.

“I took a guess.” Wu shrugged, dropping his own question for the moment. “You hadn’t been gone so long that I’d forget your favorite teas, you know.”

Zane grimaced, taking another sip of his tea to lubricate his suddenly-dry voicebox. “…in a way, I was.”

“How so?” Wu prodded, pouring himself a cup and adding a cube of sugar.

“…when Aspheera hit me and sent me to the Never-Realm, I arrived in a frozen tundra with nothing but the other things she hit and the Scroll in my hand.” Zane began. He glanced up at Wu with tired eyes. “Time flows differently there, Master Wu. I wouldn’t see the other ninja again for decades.”

Wu hummed to himself, stirring his tea long after the sugar had dissolved. “The others said it was hard to get you back, but haven’t gone into detail about just _how_ they managed to do it. Were you alone all that time?”

Was he alone all that time?

There had been one person near him from the moment he woke up without his memory.

“ **No.** ” The word came out distorted (deep and dark and wrong, wrong, _wrong_ ), and Zane cut himself off with a shuddering breath before trying again. “No, I wasn’t, and that just made everything worse.”

They sat in silence for a moment, and Zane panicked inside. Had he slipped up? Had he made Wu afraid? Had he hurt him?

On the outside, he just took another sip of his tea.

“…I assume you weren’t in the company of friends?” Wu eventually asked.

Zane shook his head.

Sip.

“Do you feel up to telling me about it?”

Zane almost shook his head again, but caught himself. Wu likely had some kind of wisdom for him. He always did.

“Not completely, but…if I do not speak to _someone…_ ”

Wu nodded, bringing his tea to his lips and taking a sip. “Would you like me to get one of the others?”

“No, no, it’s quite alright.” Zane held up a hand. “I just…I did not have the nicest of times in the Never-Realm, and as a result, neither did any of those who lived there.”

Wu quietly sipped his tea, waiting for Zane to continue, if he so chose.

Sip.

Sip.

“…I had taken the mech to a cave, as a snowstorm would have buried both it and myself had I stayed out in the elements.” Zane finally relented. “I had to use the Scroll to do so, as otherwise my elemental powers would short me out as soon as hold the mech. Perhaps that was my first mistake.

"The second would likely be not making sure I was alone. The mech was malfunctioning, and simply looking it over was giving me no clues as to the cause, so I decided to try running a diagnostic…” Zane paused, watching the leaves drift through his tea as the steam stopped rising, “…which would leave me unresponsive to external stimuli, and carried with it the risk of memory deletion.”

“You weren’t alone, were you?”

Zane’s usual perfect posture fell away, and he actually leaned forward, the beginnings of a hunch in his back. “I was not. When I woke up again, I had no recollection of anything I’d ever known, and _he_ claimed to be my ‘loyal advisor.’ He told me that I was meant to rule, that the Scroll of Forbidden Spinjitsu was my scepter, that the people were cruel and _deserved to be subjugated and destroyed, that-!_ ”

The cup in his hands shattered, but the tea inside dropped to the ground and cracked from the impact, startling him from the cold fury building up at the thought of Vex’s lies.

“Oh-! Oh, I’m so sorry, I-!” Zane forced his hands to relax, stumbling to his feet. “I’ll go get a, a broom-!”

“Please, stay.”

“…yes, Master Wu.”

As Zane shakily sat back down, Wu handed him another cup, already holding more tea. He leaned over and picked up a frozen chunk of tea that hadn’t directly touched the ground, depositing it in Zane’s cup without spilling a drop.

“Do you know what one of the first things I noticed about you was?” Wu asked.

“…what was it?”

Wu smiled, looking up at the starlit sky. “You always try to find the best in people, even if there’s nothing good to be found. It became clearer to me when you met Pixal for the first time, and when we took in my nephew, and when I had you go to give Kai a scare, but I wasn’t the first one to see it.”

Zane looked over at him, eyebrows shooting up, but Wu still traced the constellations above them.

“Do you remember, long, long ago, before I first found you chopping wood, when the strange old man asked you and your father to give him shelter for the night?” Wu dropped his gaze from the stars and turned to Zane.

“Yes.” Zane blinked. “What about him?”

“Did you know he was the Elemental Master of Ice before you?”

Zane didn’t have a response to that, and so he just took a sip of his tea.

“Generally, mastery of the elements is passed down from parent to child, but there have been cases where a Master had no biological children, or felt their children would abuse the powers they held.” Wu explained. “The previous Master of Ice was such a case. He and his husband were deeply in love, and neither of them felt capable of properly caring for a child, much as the rest of us told them otherwise.”

Zane’s eyes went wide.

“He had been on a search to find a potential heir to the power of Ice when he found himself lost in a frozen forest of birch trees. As luck would have it, he stumbled upon a tree that was more than met the eye, a cozy home in the midst of adversity.” Wu’s eyes twinkled as much as any star. “And who should live there but an aging inventor and his kindhearted mechanical son?”

〜〜〜

_There was a knock at the door, startling Zane from his reverie. “Father? Is that you?”_

_A stranger’s voice answered. “I’m afraid I am not your father, dear boy, but might I still come in?”_

_(Father was out getting more firewood, saying a blizzard would set in soon. If this stranger had resorted to knocking on their door, then they likely had no idea how to leave the forest, and no time to figure it out for themself.)_

_Zane turned down the burner under his latest culinary experiment and rushed up the stairs. “Coming!”_

_He opened the door a crack, peeking outside to try and locate the stranger without letting the biting wind inside._

_An older man leaned into view. “Home all on your own, young one?”_

_“For now, yes, but Father will be returning with firewood soon.” Zane dutifully answered, opening the door wide enough to let the man in and closing it behind him. “There’s a harsh snowstorm on the way, and we want to be prepared in case we get snowed in.”_

_“Then I suppose I am lucky I found this place.” The man chuckled, wobbling down the stairs at a snail’s pace._

_Zane followed closely, his hands ghosting worriedly around the edges of the stranger’s cloak. “Please,_ careful, _these steps tend to get-!”_

_The stranger’s foot slipped out from under him, still several yards above the floor, and he stumbled over the edge._

_Zane gasped and dove after him, throwing his left arm around the stranger’s torso and digging his right hand into the edge of the nearest stair, bringing what would have been a nasty fall to an abrupt stop. “Are you okay?”_

_The stranger hissed in shock, glancing up at him with wide eyes. “I believe so, but how…?”_

_Zane didn’t answer immediately, instead pouring all his focus into lifting himself and the stranger back onto the stairs. The clanking of his own chest against the steps seemed to surprise the stranger, but he didn’t comment on it yet._

_“Come, try to warm up.” Zane stated, leading the man down this time, then ushering him into his own favorite chair. “When Father returns, we’ll have dinner. I’m making pasta.”_

_The man nodded and removed his cloak in favor of wrapping a blanket around his shoulders. “You are quite a strong lad, my boy. Where do you keep all that muscle?”_

_“What muscle?” Zane blinked, stopping halfway to the stove. “Do you mean my motors?”_

_“Your…motors?”_

_“Yes.” Zane lifted his arm and flipped open its control panel, revealing his inner workings._

_The man seemed intrigued. “Your father_ built _you? For what purpose?”_

_“Father says he made me to protect those who cannot protect themselves.” Zane explained, closing the panel back up. “And as of right now, that includes you, so please sit tight and try to focus on staying warm!”_

_(Zane wouldn’t know until much, much later, but that was the moment the stranger realized his quest may have been at an end.)_

_(And if Zane happened to enjoy the snowy woodlands of his home even more after that night, if he happened to adopt a way of speaking much like the stranger’s, he wouldn’t realize there had been a change until far in his future.)_

〜〜〜

“He…he chose _me._ ” Zane mumbled, not even realizing he’d spoken aloud. “He _chose_ me.”

“Indeed he did.” Wu took a sip of tea before continuing. “It seemed destiny had shown him favor that night, for as he searched for someone trustworthy to pass along his elemental power to, Ninjago practically dumped the perfect candidate into his lap. A warm, reliable boy with a metaphorical heart of gold, who saved him from a painful drop without any hesitation and was driven to protect others above all else.”

“I…”

“Your fellow ninja gained their elements by being born to the previous Elemental Masters, and their personalities grew around the elements at their cores and the experiences of their pasts.” Wu told him, placing a warm hand on Zane’s shoulder. “ _You_ gained your element by being kind to a man you’d never seen before, expecting no reward save the knowledge that _you’d helped._ Even before becoming the White Ninja, that’s just the kind of boy you were.”

“…and what about now?” Zane swallowed back his apprehension. Wu was like a second father to him. _He had to know._ “What kind of person would you say I am now?”

Wu took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, calmly. “You’ve become a brave, strong, fiercely loyal man, one who sees injustice and feels an all-encompassing need to correct it, and one who makes the previous Masters of Ice proud.”

Zane almost dropped his tea for a second time that night, only catching it at the last second.

“Though your childhood naïvety has faded to an extent after all your years, and though being a ninja has left lasting scars on your mind, you still do the best you can to approach your element, one so easily used to harm and destroy, with a caring and gentle touch.” Wu went on. “Especially as of late. This 'Ice Emperor’ the others spoke of, his ice was harsh and dangerous, wasn’t it?”

Zane froze, in more ways than one. He didn’t dare move, and the ever-present chill radiating from him spread out beyond his personal space.

“And ever since your return, I don’t think I’ve seen you do more than chill Jay’s pudding cups from time to time.” Wu was going right for the elephant in the room, wasn’t he?

Zane sighed, giving up all pretenses of being calm. “How am I supposed to look at myself, Master Wu? My element, _my_ ice, was the tool by which the Never-Realm fell into a nightmarish rule by a, a… _a tyrannical pretender!_ ”

“Indeed it was.” Wu agreed, throwing Zane off-kilter for the infinite seconds he took to finish speaking. “It’s quite lucky he finally faced justice, is it not? He wanted to believe he’d been exiled so badly that he brought it about.”

“…I wasn’t talking about Vex.”

Wu looked Zane in the eyes, an intensity flaring that Zane _knew_ he’d be a fool to ignore. “Zane, I have been around for a long time. I have seen Elemental Masters who tried to abuse their power, and while not all of them were as successful as the Time Twins or Morro, some of their hearts were far darker. Just a few generations before you, the Master of Ice of the time attempted to freeze the ocean solid, believing that doing so would summon the Overlord to Ninjago and bring about the end of days.”

“Wh…?”

“In the end, her daughter was the one to topple her from her ill-begotten throne, and the natural progression of Ice along their line was hastened along, using the very same technique that bestowed it to you as a way to remove it from her mother entirely.” Wu explained, setting his now-empty teacup aside.

“ _That_ is what an evil Master of Ice is like. They actively seek to hurt others of their own free will. They do _not_ have nightmares of being used to harm others every night and flinch at sudden sounds every waking moment, they do _not_ cook a hearty, homemade meal for strangers and friends alike, and they most _certainly_ do not listen to an old man ramble on and on in the wee hours of the morning.”

Zane had too many thoughts whirring in his head and too few words to describe them, so he settled for sipping the last of his tea, trying to keep tears from dripping into his cup.

As he gave the tea his full attention, watching the leaves settle in the cup and the liquid drain away, he failed to notice when his shoulders started shaking.

When Wu reached over and pulled him close, however, he used the last of his strength to shakily set his teacup to the side before sagging into his sensei’s grip, muting himself so the cries that felt so raw and hoarse and distorted wouldn’t wake up everyone from the monastery to Jamanakai Village.

Wu wrapped his other arm around his broken pupil, the one who’d lived longer than the rest and yet forever needed some of the same support they’d given the youngest. “According to the magic mirror you ran into while searching for the second Scroll, your greatest fear is losing your humanity, correct?”

Silent sobs were his only answer, but it was all the answer Wu needed.

“Take it from me, Zane. You are one of the kindest, gentlest, most _human_ people I’ve met during my lifetime, nindroid though you may be. The things that make you such a good person and friend were used against you by a master of manipulation.” Wu rocked Zane side to side, slowly, as if lulling a baby to sleep. “If anything, _he’s_ the inhuman one. Not you. He was faced with a perceived failure and set out for vengeance, caring not for those he hurt. _You_ get faced with having been manipulated into harming others, and here you are, falling apart because you feel guilty over it.”

He kept speaking for a while, pointing out Zane’s greatest moments whenever it seemed he was about to break down again, and slowly, _slowly,_ Zane’s body-wracking sobs shrank down to the occasional sniffle. Eventually, those, too, stopped coming, leaving him with the equivalent of bloodshot eyes, the lights of his eyes flickering slightly as he stared at his hands.

Stiffly, getting his joints unstuck before his tears dried and rusted, he hugged Wu back and unmuted his voice, though he still kept it below his usual volume. When he spoke, he sounded scratchy, both like a person’s voice and an old vinyl record. “…thank you, Master Wu.”

“Anytime, Zane. Anytime.”

**Author's Note:**

> hey yall guess who literally hasn't written the ninjago crew before at all IT'S ME YA GIRL
> 
> In all seriousness the show hinted at Zane having a Bad Time of reintegrating with the ninja (when Wu hugs him, he's clearly emotional, but he doesn't hug back? my depressed brain went 👀👀👀), but since we haven't got too much in the way of post-s11 content yet…
> 
> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> ¯\\_(シ)_/¯


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